My husband and I will be in Florence for 4 nights. Any suggestions on day trips to take from Florence to smaller rural areas of Tuscany. We will not have a car so will be using public transportation or tours. What are your favorite smaller towns of Tuscany to visit. Heard the castle in San Gimignano was a tourist nightmare. Any suggestions would be great Thanks!
Posted by
San Francisco Bay Area (USA)
16209 posts
I’ve been to San Gimignano many times, and of course it’s popular with tourists, but I wouldn’t call any of my visits a nightmare. Crowds are likely to be much much worse in Florence or Venice.
Popular destinations for day trips from Florence include also Siena, Lucca & Pisa (both can be visited together as they are close), Arezzo (possibly visited with nearby Cortona), Pistoia, and many others.
The above are easy to visit by public transportation.
If you want to venture into more country settings, like the wineries and villages in the Chianti hills then a car is more appropriate).
Posted by
Shawnee, OK, USA
396 posts
I love Lucca and Siena. Two of my favorite cities in Italy. Pisa is a 1/2 day trip at best. Easy to get to all three by public transportation (buses or trains).
Posted by
Rural Georgia
2214 posts
It boils down to what kind of experience you want to have. If you want to take public transportation and see another town, I suggest you look into traveling to Lucca. I love Volterra and it would be a great destination, but getting there is a little more complex.
If you want more of a rural experience, I suggest finding a small tour group (<12) that does a wine and food tasting tour somewhere south of Florence. I highly recommend Castillo di Verrazzano (http://allisonstuscany.com/wine-tours/castello-di-verrazzano-in-chianti/). You could take a bus, which is efficient but you don't get to see a lot of the countryside or contact them and see if there is a tour out of Florence that would take you there. If you go, be sure to sign up for their food and wine tasting!
Posted by
OP
134 posts
Thanks for suggestions. Would you recommend just traveling to these cities ourselves and wandering around? Is there easy things to find to do? Or would it be better to visit by traveling with a tour that takes to different locations?
Posted by
lexington, il
4105 posts
Since this is your first trip take this tour. 3 villages and 2 wineries.
https://www.getyourguide.com/florence-l32/chianti-wine-tasting-half-day-tour-from-florence-t4433/
Another choice would be
He has small group joinable tours.